Editorial: Flexibility important to families, children

By Halifax Media NC

Published: Friday, May 24, 2013 at 01:39 PM.

Freedom is in the eye of the beholder. The measure would give freedom to employers, who could cut overtime pay for their workers. Those workers who rely on overtime to supplement their pay — single mothers being a big part of that group — could only take comp time at their employer’s convenience.

Republicans appear to be trying to use the measure to chip away at Democrats’ advantage with women voters, even running ads on websites popular with women to attack opponents of the bill. But the reality is the measure is simply a tired rehash of legislation that Republicans first passed in 1997.

If Republicans were serious about helping working women, they would work on measures that don’t undermine the 40-hour work week. The Healthy Families Act would allow employees to earn at least seven paid sick days per year to care for themselves or a family member. Another bill called the Working Families Flexibility Act, proposed before the GOP took the name for its knockoff, would create a process for employees to request changes to work hours, times and locations.

Flexibility is an important issue, but isn’t achieved by simply slapping the word on a bill and then attacking the other guy for being against it. Lawmakers should put aside partisan politics and craft sensible legislation that accounts for the realities of changes in families and their workplaces.

Both parents were employed in 59 percent of married couples with children in 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. More than two-thirds of single women with children were employed.

Juggling a job and the responsibilities of raising a child is tricky business, especially in the U.S. Our country lags behind most developed nations in family-friendly policies such as providing paid family leave and non-standard schedules.

Technology creates new opportunities for parents to work from home, but most workers don’t have or don’t take that option. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer illustrated the problem earlier this year when she killed the company’s work-from-home policy.

Such issues make a Republican comp-time initiative look attractive at first. The so-called Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 would allow hourly employees of private businesses to trade overtime for time off. Federal employees already have this option.

The U.S. House passed the bill this month with 220 Republicans and three Democrats voting in favor. Rep. Ted Yoho, a Florida Republican who supported the measure, sent out an email touting it as a vote “to give the American people freedom, and not another mandate.”

Freedom is in the eye of the beholder. The measure would give freedom to employers, who could cut overtime pay for their workers. Those workers who rely on overtime to supplement their pay — single mothers being a big part of that group — could only take comp time at their employer’s convenience.

Republicans appear to be trying to use the measure to chip away at Democrats’ advantage with women voters, even running ads on websites popular with women to attack opponents of the bill. But the reality is the measure is simply a tired rehash of legislation that Republicans first passed in 1997.

If Republicans were serious about helping working women, they would work on measures that don’t undermine the 40-hour work week. The Healthy Families Act would allow employees to earn at least seven paid sick days per year to care for themselves or a family member. Another bill called the Working Families Flexibility Act, proposed before the GOP took the name for its knockoff, would create a process for employees to request changes to work hours, times and locations.

Flexibility is an important issue, but isn’t achieved by simply slapping the word on a bill and then attacking the other guy for being against it. Lawmakers should put aside partisan politics and craft sensible legislation that accounts for the realities of changes in families and their workplaces.